So after much deliberation, planning and procrastination, you’ve finally decided to start your own eBay business… Great, but there’s just one problem – selling limits.

What are selling limits and how do they affect you?

Well on eBay there are limits in place for new sellers. These limits can be:

Account-based,

Category-based,

Item-based.

They were introduced to protect buyers from unscrupulous sellers/scammers.

In general these limits will only affect new accounts with less than 90 days selling history but depending on the items you sell and your DSRs and feedback level, you may have specific restrictions/limits placed on your account. ‘Dangerous’ items that are very high value (mobile phones, tablets etc.) or have a lot of fakes being sold (designer clothing, handbags) are usually what eBay scrutinise the most.

How do these limits work?

According to eBay themselves, you have a limit on “sold items, gross merchandise volume, and active items for sale”. Basically that means the number of items sold, the total value of items sold, and the number of current listings.

Account-based Allowances

Account-based allowances are based on your general activity and account status.

Generally the account-based allowances are for new sellers and it is usually set at 10 items per month/£650 in sales – whichever comes first.

However that is not guaranteed and can vary depending on your specific circumstances but it is mainly based on how old your account is, what you sell, and how well you do in your seller performance standards – i.e. your feedback levels and DSR ratings.

This is a very importantpart of having the new account limits increased/removed as really that’s the whole point – eBay want to see evidence that you’re a reliable and genuine seller who will provide a high level of service to buyers. So you need to meet eBay’s minimum detailed seller ratings requirements and then you can ask eBay to increase your limits.

At the moment the minimum DSR requirements are:

Percentage of 1 and 2 ratings:

Item as described – 1%

Communication – 2%

Dispatch time – 2%

Postage & packaging charges – 2%

Maximum number of occurrences:

Item as described – 3

Communication – 3

Dispatch time – 3

Postage & packaging charges – 3

DSRs are of course something you always have to work on but when you first start out it is especially important so do whatever it takes to keep your buyers happy!

As well as being measured on your DSRs, eBay will of course also monitor the amount of negative or neutral feedback you receive, and if you’re deemed to be performing below the required standard, further limits will be placed on your account.

Verifying information that you’ve given to eBay such as your address, bank account and contact details can also help with initial limits that are placed automatically on new accounts.

And this is something that always surprises people so I thought I’d clarify it – these new account limits DO apply even if you have other accounts on eBay with a long sales history that are in good standing feedback-wise.

Ridiculous I know, as eBay are obviously aware of your other accounts but unfortunately that’s the way it works.

There is one thing you can do though, you can call eBay and specifically ask them about your new account limits, explain that you’ve been selling for a long time, have good feedback etc. and that this is a new venture and then ask them to increase the limits on your new account for you, which they will usually do with no problems, provided your other account meets the necessary criteria:

Your first positive feedback was more than 90 days ago.

You don’t have any unresolved cases.

Your DRSs are at least 4.8 in all areas.

So if your other account meets these conditions (which it should definitely do) then you can request an increase in selling limits from eBay without waiting 90 days.

Category-based Allowances

In popular / high-value categories (consoles, phones, tablets) or categories that are more susceptible to fake goods (designer clothes, handbags, wallets) there may be listing allowances placed on your account IF:

It’s been less than 90 days since your first successful sale on eBay.

You haven’t sold multiple items in this category before.

You haven’t sold items in this category in over a year.

More than 3% of your total transactions have resulted in cases being opened against you.

Unlike the account-based allowances, there is not much you can do to get category-based allowances removed ahead of the set time frame. Your only real choice is to start slow, establish a positive selling history in that category and prove to eBay that “you’re able to meet the needs of your customers”.

Not ideal of course, but 90 days is not a long time and you really have no alternative if you want to sell on eBay in these categories. Whatever you do, please DON’T list in different categories in an attempt to ‘beat’ these limits as it’s a breach of eBay’s search and browse manipulation policy and if they find out it will result in extensive limits being placed and most likely account suspension as well.

While I’m on the topic, let me just say this applies to ALL the so-called black hat methods out there for avoiding eBay’s limits! It’s simply not worth it and a terrible idea; I mean do you really want to risk your entire business for the sake of not waiting 90 days! Just take my advice and play everything by the book.

Once you have sold in a particular category for over 90 days with no problems and have good feedback and DSR scores, category-based allowances will be automatically removed so there’s no need for you to contact eBay about it.

Item-based Allowances

This refers pretty much only to counterfeit or unauthorised goods and while some of these restrictions will be lifted in time, others always remain in place. Again, you need to establish a good selling history and then you can contact eBay and request an increase in these limits BUT you need to be 100% confident in the authenticity of the items you’re selling and in your supplier.

Often eBay will ask you where you source the goods and you will need to provide them with that info in order to show everything is 100% legitimate.

Everyone is well aware of eBay’s stance on counterfeit goods and they don’t need much reason to restrict or ban sellers based on this so as I said, make sure you’re completely confident in the authenticity of your items and you’re able to prove it if asked.

So as you can see, there is nothing too complicated or difficult about selling limits and as long as you start slow and provide an exceptional level of service, most of them will be automatically lifted after 90 days anyway.

Sometimes you may need to contact eBay but there’s nothing to be afraid of! They simply want some more information about you and your business and generally only ask simple questions like:

Where do you get your items?

What are your goals with this business?

How fast do you dispatch orders?

How do you get pictures for your products?

Etc.

As you might have already guessed from the last two questions, eBay prefer you to have items ON HAND and dispatch them yourself which may be a problem if you’re dropshipping orders (another reason why I’m not a big fan of that business model) but other than that calling them to discuss your limits can be a great idea, especially if you’re registered as a business seller, and will usually result in your allowances being increased straight away.

I hope this little guide helps you understand the new account limits and how they work, and if you need any advice on how best to deal with them for your business, don’t hesitate to post in the comments box below and I’ll do my best to help.

Thanks,
Andrew

Spread the love

Search for:

Amazon Sharks FBA UK

Closed group · 1,527 members

Join Group

Hosted by Andrew Minalto - online seller with more than 15 years of experience. In this group you can ask questions, discuss everything about Amazon F...

Hello,
I’ve had some old accounts at ebay.com and ebay.co.uk but I’ve almost closed it all. I decided to start dropshiping on ebay.co.uk with a new account. After two days I opened, ebay closed me. I contacted them and with them that you have no right to sell on eBay with your credentials. This was a definite and final answer that could not be changed. I called and I talked to them two or three times. Anyway. I went into my old account that I just had opened so long at ebay.co.uk and started to list some products (8) and bought some. Now I have reached the limit of the list and I do not know whether I should contact or not, because I’m afraid they can close my account.
What do you suggest?

My apologies if this has already been covered, but I did read quite a number of comments and haven’t seen an answer so far.

My limit is £3,500/100 items per month. I’m not a business or anything, just a private individual who wants to sell stuff from time to time. However, on this occasion I want to sell a rare coin for £4,500. This is the first time I have seen ‘Request Increased Limits’. However, to save the fuss I would be prepared to drop my starting bid auction price to £3,200, however would there be a problem if bidders took the price over my £3,500 limit?

Ive been a seller with ebay from 1999 with over 12,500 feedback. Never had issues or problems that couldnt be resolved if someone was unhappy.
A few years ago I had a horrible customer service rep and when I was asked how they did I left them a negative rating as a rep. (guess they stopped asking those things now..). Ever since then, they put my selling limits to 100 items a month 5000. When I call to complain periodically to see if they will lift it, the flatly refuse. Its like I’ve been blacklisted or something. I would like to file a formal complaint somewhere but where? Im over it all, but what can I do? I sell collectables. Wher e else am I supposed to sell that?

After a month of listing, I hit my 10 item listing restriction! When I tried listing my 11 item, it gives me option to increase my selling limit by sending information via their ebay portal or call. I went with the first option, I thought it was a simple answering questions and verifying my personal information. The next morning, I got an email stating that they couldn’t increase my selling limits. To make the story short, I called and the guy was pretty friendly and asked me some questions like where I got my stuff and etc. He increased it to 75 items a month! So, if your account is new I suggest call them and it only take less than 3 minutes on mine.

Hi, we tried calling Ebay and a third world country operator answered, who was there only to reject people. You could hear it from their voice that they didnt have any authority to allow you an increase in selling limits. We told them that we are approaching the 100k limit and that we are a growing business with sales made and that we wanted to have more limit to post more items. The operator simply said that this couldn’t be done and that we have to wait till next month to get an increase based on our performance this month.

We went ahead and asked how much will the limit get increased and if I recall well they mentioned something like 50% max, which in our case wasn’t good enough anyways.

My point being here…calling won’t solve you anything…they won’t actually increase you the limit. You will speak with some operator without any authority who will only suggest ways how to remove some items from your inventory on ebay to make place for other items…really not helpful. This was done in march 2018 for a reference.

I am a new seller on ebay.com they have restricted my sells. might be over limit for listing 10/month…. nothings has been sold… i suddenly removed all odd listings & added only three fresh listings…. after some hours they restricted my account.

Please advice what should i do??? should i wait for next month or call them??

I have opened a new ebay account and i have 120 items a month limit, I’ve made some sales and have 11 feedback, I have an old ebay account that no longer has a selling limit, how do i lift the selling limit of my new account?

Thank you sharing the information. I have a question about canceling order, because I have to cancel some of customers order since it’s out of stock from source. However, I am worry that it might affect my ebay store. So, how many items can I cancel within a month?

Brilliant mate….you describe it without it feeling intimidating …EBay are so generic in emphasizing the red tape rules that it comes across as being reprimanded and actually makes me nervous to call them. Now you’ve put it over in a friendly and easy to understand way I feel happy to get my account levels increased. ..big thank you

I have bought a featured shop,the one at 70 pounds and as i understand from what ebay is trying to explain is that i have 1500 fixed price monthly allowance but when i try to list something it says “We’re having some trouble right now. Please try again later.” and above “Request higher selling limits”
So what i am asking is how mane allowances i have with this featured shop per month??

Your selling limits are not directly related to shop subscription you have. You can’t simply subscribe to Featured Shop and get your limits raised by doing that. Shop subscription does NOT automatically increase your selling limits.

So you need to contact eBay and ask them to increase your current limits, of possible.

Hello, I’ve had my ebay account for 8 months now, the 1st 3 months I only used it for buying. BACK in November I started selling (musical instruments). Up to now I have 28 positive feedback on items I’ve sold & have made over $700. I’ve only had one item returned ($60 value). In December I had emergency surgery and did not pay my seller fees til January by this time my account has been suspended for not paying seller fees. My account is now up to date. But I still have a limit of 10 items a month. Is this because my account was suspended?

I opened my account up and I am stuck with only 10 item limits a month which isn’t enough. I know I can call in and ask for more, but in the event that it fails. Do you think opening up other accounts or stealth accounts can help bypass the selling limits?

Hi there,
Im in australia and have been selling for 4 months and have passed the $250 minimum sales mark but to lose the 21 day wait to get paid i have to have over 25 sales. My problem is that my sales number seems to be going down! I have sold 15 items but my 60 day total has dropped to 11 sales. I cant afford the postage on 14 items having to wait 21 days for money to clear so unless im a full time seller i dont think i can ever clear the 25 minimum items.
Do i have to sell a mimimum amount per month or is something wrong with my account?

Hello Andrew
I’m new seller on ebay. I put only one item for sale on ebay first time but it removed which is high price item. from 15.12.2015 until now,I have this message( You’ve reached your selling allowance for this month. Request a higher selling allowance, or check next month to see when you can list more items). I don’t know how long i have to wait? what shoud i do?
please advice me.

Hi, I opened an ebay account last week and have a 10 item limit. I am itching to sell my stuff but can’t. Question is, are the ‘limits’ on all styles of selling options? ie: If I have multiple items I wish to put up for auction at $5 starting price each, can I? Or is there still a limit? They don’t really make it easy for newbies to sell stuff.

Hi. I created my ebay account 3 weeks ago and sold 3 items (1 item is auction style and unpaid – ebay automatically open an unpaid case for me). ebay also gave me limit on selling limit (10 items/ $500), limit product details, limit on shipping too. So I want to ask in my case how long should I ask for raising the limit? It’s so hard to sell things with more limit ebay put on me. Thank you.

I work for a retail store. We use SixBit and some handwritten macros for integration between our CounterPoint based POS system and SixBit. One of those macros failed on us at some point now around a year ago. We had to cancel several items due to being out of stock. Our transactions around that time were between 100 and 500 per month. After the hit, they lowered our selling standards. Now we struggle to get more than 10 sales per month and have been dealing with this struggle since last November. eBay has told us time and time again there is no way out unless we sell our way out. Our defect rating is based upon the number of defected transactions vs the number of all transactions. In December of this year, we were at 25 defects out of 500 transactions in the year. This is a 5% defect rate and our goal is to get below at least 2% or even better to their .50% high rating standard.

As the months go by our defects are dropping off, but so are the high volume of sales. We lose 5 of those defects in December, but so are the 200 sales that happened in December last year. So, in January we will be sitting at 20 defects for 300 transactions. This makes our defect rate go up to 6.6%

I have spoke with ebay representatives about this but I hit a solid wall. They will not budge and their advice is to keep selling through it.

I read comments where people have made new accounts.

I’ve also considered posting small times at BuyItNow and buying hundreds of them to boost my number of transactions. It would break their rules I am sure but I wonder what I am to do.

Should I consider making a new selling account or do you have any other advice?

I did just that and they told me that there is kind of a time-lag for first-time sellers. That is, it takes time for the system to set those limits. My listing had already gone live by the time the system set the limits.

They were very helpful by the way, and after answering a few questions (concerning dispatch, etc) they increased the limit in a couple of minutes.

Hi it’s the start of a new month my selling limit was reached last month and now this month I still cannot list anything as it says you have reached your selling limit if you upgraded to a business account do you get a bigger selling limit.

Hi there if you are a individual seller and want to sell a lot of bits you have etc badges,labels and other equipment is it ok to sign up as a bussiness seller if you don’t have a business but you want extra selling limits

Hello. I’m a buyer, yesterday my account was restricted.
“You’ve reached a temporary buying restriction.
It looks like you’ve been restricted from bidding on auction-style listings or buying fixed-priced items that require a commitment because you haven’t paid for previous items that you committed to buy.
To complete your purchase, click the Add to cart or Buy It Now button in the listing, and pay for your item.”
I can’t make any best offer from seller.
But I don’t have any unpaid item.
I don’t know why.
Please help me

Hi there I have newly opened a Ebay account this month I have sold all 10 items I am allowed to in the first month I also have 25 feedback 100% positive is there any chance eBay will increase my selling limit this month I don’t own another account so I can’t link another account and if they won’t this month what will it increase to next month

Hi, I was wondering if as a new seller with the 10 items limit would be a good idea to subscribe to a basic store account to be able to list more items?. That way I won’t have to wait that long?. Thanks in advance!

Hi, I am getting increasingly frustrated with ebay in all aspects at the minute! It’s certainly not a sellers game. I started selling again after a few years hiatus and really wondering why I started again, oh yeah I’m skint and need the cash!
Anyway I set up a new account as I had moved several times and forgot all my details, this was back in February, I actually set up a few accounts as I wanted to have a different account for the various different types of things I sell. Each account was given a limit of 10 items per month. That was fine to begin with as I was finding my feet again. But it’s now October, 8 months and I’m still on a limit of 10 items on each account. All my stats are good and I don’t sell anything dodgy. My problem is I have phonophobia and making that call is an issue for me. I can do the ebay call back thingymajig, but it doesn’t give that option on that bit.

Talk about guilty until proven innocent! They should give you higher selling limits then reduce if you default etc… not the other way round.

Hi. I am a first time Seller, and put up for auction an expensive Natural 1.5 Ct. Emerald Ladies ring. The Emerald has two 1 Cats. Natural Tanzanites on either side of Emerald. 14 Kt white gold. I have certificate of quality/appraisal for $6,500.00. However, since my 1st sell, I’m held to $500. minimum starting bid. I hate to have someone win this ring for $502!! There must be way for eBay to increase my opening bid??

Call eBay, explain them situation and see if they can do anything about this.

Chances are that they won’t be able to increase your limit though as it is your first listing and obviously it raises red flags for eBay that your first item is so expensive. They have to protect buyers too you know…

I have had my eBay account for over 3 years, but haven’t sold anything in 9 months. Prior to that, I had 35 reviews 100% as a seller.
Now I’m trying to sell again but still have the same 10 item per month account limitation.
It’s hard trying to get the review numbers up when you can only sell 10 items a month, and not everyone bothers to leave feedback.
What can I do please?

I have been selling on eBay as a business for about 5/6 months now and have about 310 all positive feedback – even though I have not hit my limit of £7,500 per mount is it worth asking for a higher selling limit now and would this increase my sales?

Hey,
I dont know how to explain it , but i am brand new seller to ebay but i still got a monthly start limit of 1000 items or 25000 dollars, or which ever comes first. WOOHOOOOEEEW 🙂
but seriously…. How is that possible ???????

Hi, I opened an account in January and maxed out my limit of 10 both months, all sold. I got 8 feedbacks 100%. I sell software digital keys that I ship right away by eBay message. Is it too early to ask for an increase? And when you call what information do they need from me? How likely is an increase? My PayPal is linked and verified.

Hi Andrew,
Some clarification required please. I am a recent seller where I have been selling high end brand name that I purchased for my own use but currently do not need anymore. I currently have a 100% feedback, but due to my buying activities. I have been selling for 3 weeks now and was uploading more items and received the restriction “You’ve reached your limit for the type of item you’re trying to list, and you won’t be able list any more of these for 30 days. However, you may still list other types of items. ”

My question is this, If I sell clothes and shoes, are my restrictions on one or the other or both?
I have items which have not yet sold and may need relisting in a week, would I be able to relist as I tried to reduce pricing on an item by using the revise option, but it would’nt let me. Your insight would be very helpful here.
Thanks

I’m looking at doing some distributing for a few Chinese firms in the UK (eBay based) with them selling their items and me posting them from my storage in the UK for them, for this to work I believe they will need a new eBay account registered in the UK. I can then cut postage times down to a couple days for them. They have a feedback score of 500k and me 2k. Is there any way to get a new account setup under their name with high selling allowances that can be used for my distribution in the UK? Or can they add a second location to their eBay account?

hello ,i wonder if you can help me, im a private seller with limits of 360 items or £3,000 a month wich ever comes first …i use all my 360 listings every month sometimes i dont sell 360 items each month but they are all listed so all listing amounts are used ..do you think ebay will increase this? i have a 100 percent feedback score….. or is 360 items a month the limit for private sellers ?

I have one account which is a private account with 26 feedbacks with which I can sell up-to 100 items per month a value of £3,500.

My second account has feedback over 800 but has a limit of 9 items per month or up to the value of £1,350.

Since the second account is more active and established over 10 years ago I converted it to a business account a few days ago.

The listing limit is still the same which I didn’t expect. My DSR for this account is 4.9, 4.9, 4.9, 4.6. The 4.6 is for P&P charges. I had 1 bad feedback in 12 months and it was that buyer who left 1 star DSR for P&P.

Do you think it’s possible for me to increase this accounts limits? I would prefer to be able to have atleast 300 listings limit per month as I have already reached the limit on my first accounts 100 listing limit.

According to the new rules from February, if I can reach 100 sales within 12 months, my account would be a eBay Top-Rated Seller account as I meet the other criteria.

The only way to find out really is to call eBay and ask! Nothing bad can happen from this. If they can’t increase your selling limit, they may give you guidelines on which areas on your account you need to improve.

How to increase your selling limit without becoming a business seller.

DO :

1. Open a basic shop, that way you are worth something to Ebay, not just another freeloader expecting to list only when it’s free.
2. Allow a decent amount of time to pass from when you joined Ebay, no less than 18 months, and already have been upgraded to 100 without having asked for it.
3. Have a high-enough transaction score. What that figure is will be open to debate. My guess, no less than 300.
4. Be 100 % positive.
5. Have an outstanding DSR rating. Anything less than 4.9 should be considered a disaster.
6. Have a Defect rating in your dashboard of no more than 1 %
7. Do request the increase when you have achieved the above, it won’t happen automatically, even though they claim it does.

DON’T

1. Request the increase using live-chat, or any other written form of communication, as they view such requests as suspect, and are less likely to be agreeable. By calling from the phone linked to your account details you place your request in a more favourable light by confirming you are not a crook.
2. Never argue, simply submit. Whatever a buyer EVER demands under ANY circumstances must ALWAYS be agreed to, or you can kiss goodbye the greater goal of more sales.
3. Don’t wait for the supposed automatically adjusted selling increased to kick-in anytime soon.
4. Remember if you get turned down, fresh requests are considered, so if you have made the grade, ask again next month.
5. Don’t do anything silly, like stealth.
6. Don’t give up.

I am a top rated power seller with a feedback score of 405. However, I only get the standard 40 Free Fixed Priced listings a month. Is the only way to increase the 40 Free Fixed Priced listings is to become an ebay store/business? I recently had my selling limits increased but no increase to my 40 Free Fixed Priced listings. Is there anyway to increase this without becoming an ebay store/business

can someone help with this. some kid keeps bidding or buying my item but never pays and it’s affect my selling allowance how can i reset it back because even though they havent payed and it’s been like that for days it still has not reset my limit i haven’t even sold anything because of that same person keeps buying and not paying

yesterday I have call to ebay for increase my selling limit, and the customer support told me that I have to reach 10% of sold items to get increase. It never happens before. Just wondering do you know anything about it. Cos I tried to google for it, but didnt find anything

This thread has been so helpful and has answered a lot of my questions. Just one thing I wanted to ask your advice on: If I terminate my ebay account and reinstate it would my selling allowance go back up to when I first started? I have 100% good feedback but 8 months ago more than 5% of my items had ‘defects’ (genuinely mostly down to terrible buyers who wanted a quick buck partial refund completely unfair). Although I have now been way back up to only 1% defects and therefore have regained my Above Average Selling Permformance, my selling allowance is still set to £400 or 15 items. Awful considering I used to be on £6000 : (

Do you think I have been wasting my time trying to claw my way back and should I just open a new account?If so surely they set restrictions on this as it’s all tied to your bank account and email address etc

Hi Andrew,
I’m in Sydney, Australia and have been an eBay member since 2004 however I only recently started selling. I’ve been selling less than 60 days but have 100% positive feedback from 9 transactions. 2 buyers just won’t leave feedback no matter how nicely I ask. Don’t get this. I’m in the luxury high end fashion industry and I sell high value items & they are all authentic & guaranteed as such. 2 days ago EBay emailed me congratulating me on my sales & great customer feedback and offered me a selling increase from $7500 AUD to $11,000 and 100 items BUT tonight when I tried to edit & re-list a Prada jewellery item; I wasn’t able to. I tried auction & fixed price but neither worked. I checked my current limit & Im only at $5.5K so I should have no problems relisting the item at $300, yes? Every time I try, I keep getting the same error message – something about buyers in that category expect genuine items, blah, blah & until I get 25 feedback + 90 days + something else I’m unable to list anymore for 30 days!!
Is this just an error? The offer from EBay increasing my limit to $11K came as an email but there’s no option to reply nor could I find anyone to email re selling limits / increases, apparently can only call.
Would you recommend that I just call and enquire why my increased limit isn’t working?
I follow all the rules, I don’t change categories and all my items are described accurately. I’ve a combination of brand new, new with defects & used (generally once or twice for photo shoots or VIP events) and I include photos of the actual item/s which I’ve always on hand. So I can’t understand why there’s a restriction but at the same time a congrats & selling increase?
I’ve easily over 150 items that I can list but only have 13 active & 12 sold with 4 I need to edit & re-list. Items are designer clothes, accessories, jewellery, fragrances, homewares & collectables such as Rosenthal. So I’m listing a variety of items and some are as low as $50 whereas others are $1K.
Your suggestions and advice would be much appreciated.

You really should simply call eBay and ask them why you couldn’t re-ist that item.

Chances are that you have CATEGORY limit set as well, which is separate from your main account selling limits. eBay does usually place category selling limits in designer clothing/accessories, computer software and similar – high risk item categories. So it may well be the case for you too.

Hi Andrew,
Calling eBay is exactly what I did today yet after over an hour on the phone and the customer service officer telling me that I should have been able to list the Prada piece at least 3 times and agreeing that it was only listed and live on the site once; she advised she’d have to investigate and call me back. She went through the usual speech about new sellers, limits, etc but also agreed that eBay had increased my limit for doing so well – whilst still on the phone she tried to dig further & initially said that it was only the Prada brand that I had a restriction on however I should have been allowed to list 3 times BUT she never called back, only emailed at the end of the business day and just sent me the same bs excuse, new seller, it’s to protect me too but once I’ve got 25 positive feedback + 90 days + 5 stars then the “brand category” restriction will be lifted.
Yet after receiving this email I went ahead and listed YSL, Chanel, Lanvin, Burberry & Gucci items from bags to shoes to jewellery to homewares. Go figure?? Chanel is a much better known brand than Prada yet it appears the only brand I’m restricted to for another 29 days is Prada. Have you heard of this happening before?
My items are all authentic, the Prada cuff I listed included authenticity card & receipt from Net-A-Porter so no way it could have been questioned as a replica.
The lady I spoke with also gave me another hint – she told me on her side (eBay side) it looked as if I’d listed 3 times but in fact I’d listed once & tried to re-list twice and received the error messages and couldn’t actually get the listing up. I’m fairly computer literate so what this tells me is that there’s a glitch in ebays systems where they are picking up attempts to list as actual listings. The only way to avoid that happening would be to tick the box to automatically list 3 times if the item doesn’t sell. I haven’t been doing this with all my items as I want to analyse why it didn’t sell and edit, change key words, pictures, pricing, format, etc accordingly and then re-list. Otherwise I’ve discovered any changes I make come up as revisions and potential buyers can actually view previous versions! I’m learning to get my descriptions right the first time, along with my images so any changes will only be to the price, format & maybe the heading.
Do you think I’m on the right track here……

I am a top rated power seller on eBay with no eBay business or anything like that. I am just a normal seller that is doing it more as a bill paying hobby as i am a student and don’t have the time or the resources to expand into an eBay business.

I have sold hundreds of items, and have a feedback score 378 with a 99.6% positive rating. I purchase other people’s card collections and i sell each card individually on eBay to make a profit.
However, i am finding it more difficult to sell these days as the cards sell easily and quickly, but i am still only allowed a total of 40 item listings a month. I have to wait until the next month to list more which is limiting my amount of sales and overall income.

I don’t want to expand into a business or anything. I just want to know if eBay would let me increase my selling limits to more around 80-100 items a month so it could cater for the higher levels of my inventory.
Also if it does get approved, do i have to wait till next month for the increased listings or can they increase the number in a matter of minutes?

To increase your selling limit you’ll have to call eBay and ask for an increase. If you’re a TRS already, that means you already have a business account on eBay (which is an upgrade they could ask for if you were still on a personal account level).

So I can’t see any probs with getting this sorted really. The new selling limit should take effect immediately (if they increase it for you).

My ebay seller level was demoted to ” below standard ” on about August 20, then about September 2 ebay added the Monthly selling limits ” 75 item and $1700 dollars per month “, On September 20 my account was promoted back to the seller level of ” Above Standard”.

The problem is ebay DID NOT remove my 75 item and 1700 dollar monthly limit when I got promoted back up to ” Above Standard “, Few questions, Will they remove my monthly limits WITHOUT me having to call in after a number of days if so how many days would I have to wait?

If I have to call in, whats the best thing to tell them and what the best way to deal with the phone rep?

IF you have already reached the limit and need to list/sell more, you really have no choice but to call eBay and ask them to lift your limit or at least increase it. If your feedback is good, it shouldn’t be a problem really and they will increase or lift it.

If you haven’t reached limit yet, there’s nothing to worry really about – just sell as you sell and in few months time it could automatically increase or get lifted.

Thank you for your advice Andrew! you say in a few months time it could automatically increase or get lifted, does that mean I do not have to call in and I can just wait a few months? based on the timeline I listed above roughly what month may my limit get lifted?

If I have to call in, whats the best thing to tell them and what the best way to deal with the phone rep?
I hope they wont force me to mail them receipts or whatever.

Thanks for such useful blog. Just a quick question:
I have recently started e-bay online business as a private seller with standard 10 item restriction. Would it be possible to increase the listing limit if I register myself as a business seller?
Thanks.
JIa

Hi Andrew,
Just a bit of background first… My wife runs her own celebration/birthday/wedding cake making business, a fully registered business, insured, etc. and has fantastic reviews on facebook (which coincidentally is where it all began). Off the back of this we have set up an eBay account in her name selling printed cake toppers which I have taken control of. The printed toppers are not expensive, around £4.50 with free postage, but potentially will sell in high quantities.

The problem we have encountered is that there is a selling restriction of 10 items which I have already sold in the first 2 days of September. Potentially, and I am confident that this addition to her business could do extremely well, if it wasn’t for the limits.

My wife does have an old account (set up as a basic shop) from several years back that she remembers having high sales and good feedback on, but we can not remember any of the account details in order to link the two to get the new account limits raised and she believes she “closed it down”.

This new account is only 3 weeks old, I did not receive feedback from the few customers from the end of last month (I don’t want to pressure them so soon) and I have just sent out the purchases made over the last couple of days (I am confident that feedback will be good for these). So, as I write this, there is zero feedback.

Do you feel in your wisdom, that I will get anywhere by calling eBay to get the limits raised, or given the current fledgling state of the account it would be worth just biding my time for a while before contacting.

Yes, not the best position to be in, right on 2nd September when month hasn’t even started yet!

I would still try calling eBay, but when you get at least 3-4 feedbacks in from these 10 sales you made now. As for your chances of getting limit lifted – hard to say really as no one knows for sure how they evaluate this…. But products you sell are not high risk items so hopefully they can increase your limit a bit. If not, all you can do is wait another month to sell another ten. after those sales they should def. increase your limit.

i have an ebay account for over a month now. limit of 50 items or 5,000 a month. i have well already sold my 50 items again this month and have to wait until next month to sell 50 more. i called ebay to raise my limits and they would not. this is really frustrating. i remember 6-7 years ago when i sold on my old account that i forgot the password to and had no limits what so ever. i understand they are trying to control people getting scammed but all they have to do is let people freely sell and just hold the paypal funds like they already do to make sure the transaction went well. making people have 10 or 50 items a month is insane. i can sell that many in a week! guess the idea of making some extra money is out the door.

Hi Andrew!
Could you tell me please, what should I do if I want to sell an item which simply cost more then 650? I would like to sell two very rare PS console, worth about 1000-1200 each. Is it even possible increase the limit in my case just to sell these two consoles? I’m only interested in selling these two items.
Thanks in advance!
Jacob

You can try contacting eBay and explaining the reason why you need higher limit but most likely they won’t do it. They want to see some smaller sales in, feedback in first before they can increase your limit.

Im currently a private seller with a selling limit of 100 listings per month although i have never sold more than 20 items per month..Would it be possible to increase my selling limits to at least 200 per mnth?..And also are private sellers allowed to list that many items?The reason i want to increase my allowance is that i’ve got a lot of items at home that i would like to get rid of it as soon as possible before moving into a new home.

My third question is….Can private sellers open a basic shop without actually running a business on ebay?

I have been selling on ebay for 10 years. i have opened and closed my shop many times because of moving countries.

I have reopened my shop now, and started selling, now they have put a selling limit on my account to 75 items a month or 900 pound, the seller rating is below standard for the global program, each country is above standard, but the global program is below standard,

What can i do?

I have sold over 6000 items over the years I have 100% feedback, I had 5 cases which were not closed by me, but by the buyer and the buyer closed because they recieved the item,

Plz i need help
I upgrade from normal seller to subscribe yearly in basic store in ebay on 22/5/2015 but until know i can not listing more item. Said you have 0 limit and you can list 10 item next month . But i know i can list 150 items.

I have had an ebay account for years, one sold one or 2 things but nothing big, just the unwanted gifts etc.

I started in April to sell as a business, and changed to a business account and opened a eBay shop, I was allowed to list 300 item in May, this was increased to 600 when I called them on the first of June.

My issue is that I sell phone cases, with lots of different variations. I have sold 108 so far this month, but I cant list any more items. all my feedback has been 100% with five stars.

If I call them again and ask them for an increase will I be penalised if they say no?

Because I had an increase 17 days ago they need to see 30 days trading before another increase.

I will have to wait until the 1st July, in the mean time I am having to reduce the quantity and variations so I can list extra items, which is not ideal. I sold another 10 items yesterday.

Very frustrating, especially when my feedback is 100% I am even getting messages saying thank you and have 5 out of 5 stars for everything. I now have a backlog of items waiting to list which means I will need to ask for a big increase. I am sure they have a reason for these selling limits, but its stopping my business from growing.

Hi Andrew, I came to know your site by Google. Found excellent source here for all the ebay sellers. Thanks for your Kind Support.

I have newly started my ebay selling. Account is one month old. Started to sell from last week. Ebay put some Selling Limitation on my account. In two days, i have reached this limit and my listing has ended.

I came to know that i can have more than one ebay account at a time. To start selling again (for the intermediate time), can i create one more new account and sell it. Will this new account automatically linked to my old one and say already i have reached the limit ?

Hi Andrew I’m from Oz and brand new to eBay. I am 74 and in 12 months time moving from my large six bedroom house to a very small villa. I have a large stamp collection and thousands of coins I wish to sell
individually as well as more than 4,000 mint condition vinyl records. I opened an eBay account for this purpose only to find that I am restricted to selling only 10 items per month.

Would opening an eBay Store resolve this problem. I am not short of money and don’t mind paying whatever monthly fees are involved. But I need to list thousands of items and be able to sell them over the next 12 months. Your comments and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks from Roger

But don’t be afraid of that 10 item limit – it’s only temporary. What you need to do is sell those 10 first items, get first 5 feedbacks in and then simply contact eBay to increase your limits. If all goes smoothly, they won’t have problems in increasing your limits or even lifting them after some time.

Thank you Andrew. One last question if you don’t mind. In my situation with so many
items to list for sale (ie about 6,000) if I opened an eBay Anchor Store would I be able to get
my 20 year old grandson to list (say 2,000) in one hit using Turbolister which he is basically
familiar with? I ask this because a store with a thousand items in it is more likely to sell more and be more viable than (say) a store with just 10 items in it. My grandson who has limited experience with eBay tells me that if I subscribe to an “Anchor” Store he would be able to immediately list 2,500 items.for me. Is this correct? Thanks from Roger

Please share your ideas and suggestions with my case. I am from UK but based in Germany. I had/ve an ebay shop over 1 year. Sold about 300-900 products per month. Couple month after starting the ebay shop I turned into biggest seller for the specific product in German ebay. WOW everything was great until I switched my transport from DPD to UPS.

MY PROBLEM: All data between 2 transport services got mixed up. UPS system did not register what was sent before, so there was lot of duplications that got sent through. I took about week break to go through the shipment data and all purchases were delayed, during this time (I sold about 200 products per week). As a result in next couple weeks lot of complaints were opened which in the next rating period end NOV 2014 meant that I wasI below average… until now. I never even knew about the point system (as I could not understand this in german on that time).

I spoke with ebay but they don’t have answer to my question…”what should I do to improve my situation.” As I understanding now being below average it is not possible to revert back to average before the main opened cases period comes to an end witch in my case is in November / December 2015 (9 months from now). With current sales limit in place 100 articles it is not possible to improve the rating as last year April I sold 300 articles, May 400 articles. I am now on 12 months rating period and the 90% complaints appear Noveber / December.

I know I am guilty, I have sent the products just didn’t take care of the customer service after this. But isn’t there a possibility to get through to department manager in ebay who can really evaluate the situation. From the biggest seller, first page to the last page on ebay in one month. What gets me is that I have to wait 1 year before I can get back to average. If thats the case, then there is something wrong with this system.

Im sorry but there’s nothing I can suggest you apart from what eBay already told you….

You made a mess and now you have to pay for it. eBay do not care about why this happened to you etc., it’s all just numbers to them. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, it is what it is unfortunately and there’s no real human factor taken into consideration when we talk about defect rates, negative feedbacks and your account status.

Your best bet probably is to continue selling under 100 limit for now and hope that these new sales won’t restrict your account. At same time, open a brand new account and start building sales from scratch. It will be much easier and quicker to get back Above Standard or even TRS status with a new account than with the old one.

But you can’t leave current account as it is either – you have to continue sell as otherwise eBay can suspend this and all other/future accounts you own.

Hi Andrew thanks for the comments. I was also thinking of building up the second account (private) that I have. What I don’t understand is if I change the private account also to ebay shop and give the same VAT number that is linked to the other shop which is at the moment below average then will also the second conto be automatically below average?

Hmm, I don’t think you have 2 eBay business accounts linked to same company. If you can, then probably yes, they’ll be linked in a way that it works against you – meaning second account will suffer too.

Great tread. Have been on ebay for over 10 years, always feedback above 99% and now over 7000 of them, never a complaint of fakes etc. No account issues ever either. Since the ” new” above standard, below standard, ( what has happened to the standard itself ? ) and due to 3 cases closed with seller resolution ( one a treat of neg feedback and returns empty box) my account is limited to 10 items or 600 pounds. And it has be decreasing gradually. Have emailed ebay, no reply, have phoned, ” you need to increase your rating” is the standard reply, and will have to wait 9 months for cases to possibly drop. After over 10 years, this appears absurd. Would you have any suggestions?
Best Regards,
Antonio

Thank you Andrew,
Something I do not understand is the no ” standard ” , you are either above or below, but there is no middle? Sure, they can do as they please, their website, but everywhere else in the world, a standard is set, then….all else follows. Cars, pens, salaries etc. With this crowd…..
Perhaps someone like google should start a new ebay….perhaps.
At another level, apparently they are soon to be on the stock exchange….and just anounced low ” sales” obviously due to stuff like this. I wonder if once on the stock market, restrictions will be lifted, share prices up, for someone to benefit big time…..
But thank you for your time, as you may imagine, selling from a business point of view 5 k a month to drop to a restricted 600 is not viable. Alternatives must be found, and fleabay should be accountable for it. They are not. Or are they?
Best regards,
Antonio

Well, eBay is on stock market since October 1998, so that didn’t change anything! 🙂

eBay is eBay – customer is their number one priority, their whole policy is based around that. If you don’t already sell on Amazon Marketplace, you should def. try that. And of course – work on your own online shop where you are in 100% control on everything.

Andrew,
Thanks again. A customer is someone who pays your bills. In ebay’ s sense, the seller, not the buyer. My view of course. And they are paid extremelly well for the service they provide. My local auction house only charges me 10% all in, cash in hand. Smaller market, much less costs as well. Do not see where their policy leads them, or customer care for that. People do not buy there because as they claim, they are a great shopping experience, only because there are bargains to be had. Again, someone who has been a customer for over a decade, with a good sales record should not be this penalised because their values change. But be so. Amazon is even worse then ebay according to online reports. Indeed some claim ebay is following Amazon in search for yet more profit. Thank you for your time, will not bother you again and do appreciate your answers.
Regards,
Antonio

Look at it from the other end – customer actually pays that fee when he makes a purchase as most of eBay’s income comes from FVFs. So without customers, there’s no FVFs and no profit.

We all know that most difficult part online for any business is to get customers in – eBay knows this and plays accordingly. There are many eBay clones out there, some are even quite successful in terms of number of sellers they have attracted BUT there are no customers on those sites!!! So what’s the point?

And I don’t think Google or anyone can compete on same level with eBay as eBay is eBay. Look how Google’s attempt to beat PayPal turned out – it didn’t go that well, eh?

So yeah, it is what it is – eBay rules are drastic for sellers, true, so you either accept it or don’t sell there.

Hi,
We are a registered Charity and have loads of goods to sell,what we have sold has had great feedback
We would like to increase our limits,of 10 units per month.
We sell everything and anything so why are we on 10 units a month.
Thank you,
Mark

Hello,
Is there anyway to find out how many postings we have left for the month ? We get 600 a month for a business but right now we are going through and totally revamping our Ebay page so we wanted to be able to keep track of how many we have since we are editing posts.
Thank you, Brylee 🙂

Hi Andrew,
I am British and living in Greece and have been buying and selling on Ebay,co,uk for several years now as a private seller. Can you tell me why I am not eligible for the 100 free listings that are available to others? Is it because I live in Greece? My paypal is set up using my UK bank account which I stll use.
Any help would be appreciated.
Many Thanks Maureen

i have open my ebay.in (since i am indian) account in 2010 but started sales from 2013… now i have completed 1 year but still i have restriction of sale 10 items or $ 500 whatever come first.
till now i got 9 feedback( positive ), so is there any chance to increase my listing limits? or i should call ebay.com and ask to increase the same.
Thanks & regards,
aashi

Hi I have been selling on ebay but suddenly PayPal message and said I’ve got to my selling limit and need to provide details. I don’t really understand what I have to do and why and what is the beginning of the year for limits to run from. If I don’t do this they will hold all monies for 190 days??? thanks

Hi Andrew
C
Can you tell me where to look to know when my new month of 100 listings begins. Does the month start from the day you listed the first item or is it by calendar month? Thanks for your time
Nicki

Hi Andrew,
Am not an expert in English as I’m an south Asian. Sorry for my broken English.
I am selling in eBay since March (Around 9 months).On my first days I got 10 listings per month and I called eBay to increase it then they make it for 18 and send me a message that asks some invoices/business proofs unfortunately I was unable to submit them on that time.But still am having the limitation of 18 items per month.

I have 100% positive feedback (24 feedback) and all DSRs are 5.0 except shipping time, it is 4.9.

One of my customer have opened a case that he didn’t receive his goods,I sent his goods with a tracking number it says unsuccessful delivery attempts for two times.He says that he was abroad on those days and asked me to send a replacement I sent it with a tracking number and it is still on the way to his place.
When I send him information regarding replacement he says that address is wrong but send it to exactly what the mail shows.Am even ready to refund him to avoid my limitations.I ask eBay to review this case before two days and nothing happens yet.
Case is still opened

I wanted to know from you is is there any chance to get rid from these limitations?,Is it possible to lit limitation without calling eBay?
Am afraid to call eBay because of two reasons.
1.Will I get banned?
2.Poor in English.

Ya my dear every month am selling all my 18 listings.
But am not getting increase in my listing numbers.
Is there any way to increase it?
Do I have to call them again?
Is there any other way to lift my selling limitation without calling them?
Will I get banned If I call them?

I just recently started selling on ebay. I am now allowed 30 listings and or 1500. How do I figure this out? Does this count listings not sold or is this just sold listings? The email says I can see it under my ebay but I just want to make sure I’m doing this right and not going over the limit. I have a lot of items to sell so my patience is of the virtue right now.

Usually listing limit simply means how many active listings you can have in any given month. In no way you can go over this as eBay simply won’t let you star new listings when you reach the limit.

1500 stands for total amount of sales you can make in month.

Usually though, if you reach these limits, get in good feedbacks, eBay will increase the limit if you just give them a call. So basically don’t worry about this that much and just keep selling and when you reach limit, contact eBay and ask them to increase it.

Hi Andrew first of all thank you for taking the time to answer all of these questions. This is my situation: A couple of months ago I had an emergency and could not ship 4 orders in time. All 5 of those buyers opened “item not received” cases which greatly affected my account. My account status went below average and my limits went all the way down to 500$ or 10 items a month. What would you recommend in my situation? I am looking into going full time so I need at least a 5000$ limit. What would you recommend in my situation. I want to get listing as soon as possible. Thanks

Could you help me as well. I am so desperated for some help. My situation is like like Alan. I am going from power seller above standard to below standard within 5 months because I was so sick and I can’t keep up with my business at that time. And I have to close my store because I am limit to $300 a month only.. I call ebay and they said I have to successfully sell 200 items a month to have my eBay account lifted.

My account is from 2010 and have 1277 feedback at 98.2%

Could you please please help me to restore my account because I am so close to closing it. And it has been a huge effort to build that account.
All the answer and reply will be here ? Or the will be a reply notification to to my email as well.

Hi Andrew,
I had an account in good condition with 100% positive feedbacks. My friend opened an account at same address. He sold something fake and his account got closed. I closed my account because i thought when i will ring ebay to increase my allowance it will be linked to my friend’s account because of address. Can i open a new account now on my name? And what will happen if i do so? Thanks

I want to increase the selling allowance. However, I find no way to increase. I keep contact the eBay agents at 0345 359 3229, but no one received the call. I am a new seller, started for 3 weeks and received 100% positive feedback. I would like to know how I could increase the selling allowance.

And if I am a business seller, is there any monthly fee I need to pay and will the listing fee be higher? Thank you!

Ebay has officialy gone too far. I have been selling with them since the start. I have a 98.2% positive rating and I’m now limited to 15 postings a month! THIS is BS! I never had to upload tracking numbers before! I would always give them out if anyone asked for them. This along with a a package that USPS LOST and now lowered me below standard ratings, even though for the past 2 months I have done everything they said…sure the ratings are going up, bu at this rate it will take me a year. I have started listing items on Craigslist and a few other auction sites….said to see this happen, its only costing them profit…I have stop buying from e-bay as well….can’t sell….won’t buy!

I have to say my frustration level with eBay is hitting an all time high.
I am rated as a Power Seller and yet am not receiving any of their free listing promotions
Thus I am limited to 100 free listings a month. And am getting dinged right and left with listing fees for every listing over that 100.
On top of this, I have now reached my selling limit.
Ebay has effectively stopped my business.
How stupid is this? They make money when I sell. On every item sold they make waaaaay more than their piddly 30 and 40 cent fees.
I’ve called and talked to everybody I am allowed to speak with and given one excuse after another as to when selling limits are reviewed and how it is the “system” that randomly decides who should receive a free listing promotion. The best they could do for me was to tell me to delete some of my current listings so I could list new things in their place.
So much for seller support. They are shooting themselves in the foot and I am left without recourse apparently.
Any insight, help, suggestions? Please…

I have 170 feedbacks, and I have 4 negative 3 neutral, right now I am at 97.8%. But i do sell 100 items each month but not everyone leaves feedback i don’t know why, even now am selling i have another 20items to sell then to reach the limit for this month. I am rate by eBay as a eBay top rated seller and have a badge showing on my account like a gold medal?

If a person buys a great deal from ebay like I do AND have a life, providing feedback for sellers sucks because of the long process involved. In the olden days, I could just say “Great ebayer A+++++” and be done with it. Anyway, I do feel bad for not doing it.

My allowance is to sell 100 items, I want to increase the allowance, but I have been selling since March and since April as a business, I have received 2 feedbacks from two buyers saying its fake and trying to get a refund without returning item. When they returned item it was used and scruffy. And 2 feedbacks saying make up not their type they requested refund after using it, I refuse as it was stated items can be retuned if faulty or unused. If I call ebay what do you recon they would say? Or do you think my allowance would go up it self! If so how long should I wait to see if it does go up without calling them?

You say buyers do not want to return items then you turn around and say they returned scuffy items. You are not a good business person if your post is an indication of how you run a business. If a buy is not happy with an item refund them. If the item was used then maybe they discovered item was fake after attempting to use it and believed it was authentic only to find out it was inferior. I have sold over 20,000 items with 100% rating because I always allow the customer to be right. You may lose a few dollars by refunding but overall you will make much more by selling real authentic merchandise and putting your customers first. Too many sellers on Ebay are greedy and just want money and that is why they don’t make it.